The present invention relates to toy dolls, and more particularly, to toy dolls having a mechanism(s) to displace the doll in a walking and/or crawling mode.
Mechanical dolls having mechanisms for enabling the doll to be "self-propelled" (i.e., able to walk or crawl by its own action) are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,521 of Heerlein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,138 of Cedeholm et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,315 of Kataoka and U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,161 of Pastor each disclose a doll having one or more mechanisms for moving portions of the doll so as to cause the doll to walk or crawl across a surface. Cedeholm et al., for example, disclose a doll having legs pivotally mounted to a body and including a pneumatic mechanism with bellows that inflate pockets within the legs. By alternately inflating and deflating the leg pockets, the legs are pivoted about the body so as to displace the doll in a walking action.
Further, mechanical dolls having gearing and/or linkage mechanisms to effect relative movement between portions of the doll so as to displace the doll in a walking and/or crawling motion are also known. For example, Pastor discloses a walking doll having a mechanism including both a gear train and a linkage mechanism which pivots both the arms and the legs of the doll with respect to the body such that the doll is pushed forward by the legs and simultaneously pulled forward by the arms. However, the doll disclosed in Pastor is only capable of displacing in a crawling mode that requires all four appendages for movement and cannot "walk" in an upright position, Kataoka discloses a doll having gears and linkages that pivot the lower portion of the doll with respect to the upper portion such that a "wagging" motion is created. The wagging movement of the doll causes the doll to either walk or crawl across a surface; however, the upper portion of the doll must be externally supported in the walking mode or else it will fall over.
Furthermore, dolls having mechanisms for rotating its head relative to its body are also known, such as the doll disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,405 of Tepper. Tepper discloses a doll having a gear train that moves the upper torso of the doll with respect to its lower torso and which simultaneously rotates the head about the upper torso.
Although mechanical dolls having mechanisms for moving the legs and/or arms of the doll with respect to its body so as to create walking and/or crawling movement of the doll are known, none of these known dolls are capable of walking without external support. Therefore, from the foregoing, it will be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide a mechanical doll having the ability to effect an unsupported walking motion. It would also be desirable to have a doll that can walk or crawl when prompted by a user of the doll. Further, it is also desirable to provide a doll that moves several of its body portions simultaneously during a walking or crawling movement so as to create a more realistic impression of a human baby or toddler.